


Not Today

by Tententendo



Series: Hearing Impaired Tendou [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Car Accidents, Deaf Character, Deaf Tendou Satori, Flashbacks, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, M/M, Post-Canon, Semi being an asshole, Strained Friendships, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, troupes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 07:41:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24347413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tententendo/pseuds/Tententendo
Summary: It's the day before the eighth anniversary since the car crash that robbed Satori of his hearing, a vivid recollection in the form of a dream shakes him into the annual low that he's never quite managed to shake on the eve of his birthday. Trying to find something of a distraction in music, or the only way he can enjoy it, things just go from bad to worse. But then better. Definitely better.Sort of sequel to "To Be Normal."Tendou week 2020 day 6, prompt - hobbies.
Relationships: Oohira Reon & Tendou Satori, Semi Eita & Tendou Satori, Shirabu Kenjirou & Tendou Satori, Tendou Satori & Ushijima Wakatoshi, Tendou Satori & Yamagata Hayato, Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi
Series: Hearing Impaired Tendou [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1757818
Comments: 22
Kudos: 259
Collections: TendouWeek2020





	Not Today

**Author's Note:**

> I literally wrote most of this completely differently and panic retyped it because all my plans for today fell through.
> 
> CW: The first part of this fic contains a relatively detailed aftermath of a carcrash, if you want to skip that, just scroll to the first line divider to when Tendou wakes up.
> 
> You don't have to read "To Be Normal" to get what's going on but it gives some context and more background on these two (also it might be the best fic I've ever written and it's actually beta'd for once so might actually be a half enjoyable read? XD). Besides Tendou having total hearing loss and having been secretive about it for pretty much all their first year and Wakatoshi being the only one who figures it out from an early stage, you can read this without reading TBN.

_It's dark. Satori's entire head feels like it's being stabbed repeatedly, agony licking at his skull. His left arm burns and his chest feels constricted and something warm is running down both sides of his face. He cracks his eyes open, trying to blink away the blurriness of his vision and see's the back of the passenger seat in his parents car. He starts to panic, dazed and disorientated as he takes the scene around him, fear and confusion making him want to cry. Two limp forms are visible over the passenger and driver seat, his mother and father oddly visible but they're not moving. To his side his sister also hangs from her seatbelt, long red hair hanging above her head and he can just about make out cuts littered over her still face. It dawns on him that he, and by extension the car, must be upside down._

“ _M-mom, d-dad?” His lips warble as he calls to them, breath coming in sharp intakes he can't control. The crash that had happened an unknown time ago comes back to him. The lorry swerving from it's side of the road and crashing into them, sending them barreling off the road and rolling down the side of a hill and he starts panicking, his good arm shaking reaching out to his sister._

“ _O-oniichan?” He calls, shaking her shoulder minutely. "Oniic-chan?" She shifts and a little of his fear is eased. She cracks her eyes open, looking around in dazed confusion and fear seeps into her expression. A blue light flashes from the now glassless window frame of the door beyond her, getting brighter and brighter with each flash and someone Satori vaguely registers as a paramedic comes into view. Relief washes away some of the panic, he knows he can trust doctors even if they scare him a little. The man inspects the occupants of the car, hands hovering in a placating manner and what might be a reassuring look on his face. His lips are moving but no sound is coming out. Satori tries to tell the man this but his consciousness is fading and it pulls him under, succumbing to the numbness._

_The next time he wakes up, he's laying on something much more comfortable. He knows he's awake but he feels like he could be floating, all the pain he felt from earlier blanket by a numbness that he feels throughout his whole body. Cracking an eye open, he finds a white ceiling with glaring lights that temporarily blind him, and the room is deathly silent. It feels like something is wrapped around his head and something heavy holding his left arm in place but he's too groggy to really give it too much thought. Turning his head, relief washes over him when he see's his parents sitting on chairs near the bedside. Both of them sporting bandages on their heads and faces but they seem to be okay. He can see their lips moving but he can't hear anything they're saying. The crash once again comes back into his mind and his eyes burn._

“ _Mom, D-dad?” Both his parent's heads snap towards him, immediately leaving their seats and standing over him. His fathers hand find his own numb ones and his mother rests a palm gently over his face, her eyes rimmed red and now he can see some dark bruising across her forehead. Satori cries his relief. He wants to reach up and hug them but he feels like something is holding him down, or his body is to heavy to move._

_His mother's lips are moving rapidly but no sound is coming out and Satori wrinkles his brows._

“ _Mom I can't hear you. Can I take the bandages off?” His parents glance at each other, matching expressions of grief twisting their features and fresh tears start making their escape from his mothers eyes. That's when Satori realizes something is wrong._

“ _Mom?” He asks, growing frustrated at not being able to hear his own voice. His mother turns back to him, leaning over and hugging him as gently as she can before disappearing from sight for a moment. When she reappears, she's holding something in her hands and Satori can make out what might be a marker pen. It doesn't make sense and in his nine year old and drug numbed mind, it makes him worry._

“ _Mom, I don't like this. What are you doing? Why can't I hear you? Where's Oniichan?” His mother visibly flinches, his father around her arm while squeezing Satori's hand as she scribbles on whatever is in her hands before holding it up with shaking hands, grief twisting her pretty features and he sees a small whiteboard with shaky handwriting on it, so shaky he can't really read it. Enough to make him wish he hadn't woke up, or he would wake up and find out this was a nightmare._

'It's okay baby, you're going..... okay. Oniichan is fine...... just sleeping in the next..... doctors are doing...... fix it but you banged your head....... ears from working. .... love you so mu-....... 're so brave. You're going to be fine.'

* * *

  
  


Satori woke up with a start, a cold sweat making itself known as he reflexively looked around. The nightmare, or the recollection, held onto him making him shake and he covered his face with both hands taking slow breaths. It was a day short of exactly seven years since the accident and probably a year or so since he'd had that particular dream. The accident occurring on the way home from his birthday dinner at his favorite childhood restaurant making it hard to forget the anniversary date. He'd gotten over it, put it behind him. But the vividness of the dream still unsettled him, leaving him trembling and his skin sticky with sweat.

Something large and warm, a hand, rested on his shoulder and he jumped at the sudden recollection that he wasn't alone. Lifting his head, he realized he must have fallen asleep while him and Wakatoshi sat reading Shonen Jump and embarrassment burnt at his cheeks. Partially for making such a show and partially upon realizing that the solid thing his head had been resting against moments ago had been Wakatoshi's shoulder.

 _-”Are you okay?”-_ Satori saw his hands move, too embarrassed to meet his eye while he ran his hands through his hair, trying to will the tremors to stop.

“ _y-yeah. Nightmare. Sorry for dozing off,”_ He apologized, putting some space between himself and Wakatoshi while chuckling miserably to himself. At the time he had thought it was a nightmare and he'd wake up from it and find the crash that robbed him of his hearing hadn't happened, or maybe that he'd suddenly have super powers and could magically hear again. Obviously none of those things happened. Taking a deep breath, he finally met Wakatoshi's gaze. The tallers expression was mostly neutral but there's a slight worry crease between his brows. “ _I'm fine. H-how far did you get? I've read it before so didn't worry about going back.”_ The worry crease between Wakatoshi's brows didn't disappear but he bookmarked the magazine and set it aside.

“ _I stopped when you fell asleep and read the adds. Do you want to talk about your nightmare or was it about the horror movie we watched yesterday?”_ Satori averted his gaze when Wakatoshi finished speaking. It was widely known his imagination ran away with him and he could easily play on that but he didn't like lying, especially not to Wakatoshi.

“ _The car crash. It happened a year ago tomorrow on the way back from the restaurant we went to. Kinda pathetic since it's been nearly seven years but... creeps up on me sometimes.”_ Heat crept over his cheeks and he waved a hand dismissively. _“Sorry, Ignore me. I should head back to my room,”_ He said, stretching and reaching for the homework he'd finished an hour or so ago. Wakatoshi waved to catch his attention and waited until he was focused before speaking.

“ _It's nothing to be embarrassed about. A car crash would be traumatic enough but losing your hearing is life changing. You don't need to apologies.”_ Satori's entire face heated up at the earnest statement. Trust Wakatoshi to be so kind. It helped, a smile tugged at his lips as he ducked his head to try to hide his smile, wishing his hair was down to hide it more.

“ _Thanks Wakkun.”_ He gathered his books up and got ready to leave before a strange urge gripped him. Something he'd wanted to do for some time. “ _Um. This is embarrassing but..... can I.... ack, never mind.”_ He stifled the urge, more of a _craving_ , chickening out mid sentence and rounded up the last of the items he'd brought. He tried to ignore Wakatoshi's beckoning but he switched to signing since Satori stubbornly refused to meet his eye and it's much harder to ignore.

-” _What is it?”-_ Satori shook his head, sliding off the bed ungracefully and making his escape before he embarrassed himself even more in front of his crush.

“ _It's nothing. Forget I said anything,”_ Without turning back, he left and half jogged to the room next door, locking it behind him.

Eita gave him a strange look as he entered and haphazardly dumped his things and collapsed on his bead still fully clothed, head facing the wall. Needing something to pull him from his own thoughts and figuring it wasn't too late, he reached over for the mini subwoofer sitting on his night stand and connected it to his walkman. Sliding off his bed and onto his desk, he set the walkman on the desk and maximized the volume. Resting his head against the desk, he let the vibrations pulsing through the wood overcome his senses.

He remembered the song well. It was easy to fit the words in his head to the dips and spikes in the rhythm making the table vibrate, matching up drums and guitars and the more prominent thrum of the base. He'd loved music as a kid and while he couldn't listen to it exactly, feeling the rhythm in the form of vibrations sent through the wood that he could _feel_ was a good enough way to still enjoy it. The first song ended and the next one started and he already felt the residual unease from the nightmare fade. He almost jumped when he felt a hand land on his shoulder for the second time. Scrunching up his face in distaste, he batted the hand away.

“ _Not right now Semi, just leave me alone,”_ He huffed, somewhat plead. The hand left and he relaxed, losing himself in the thrum of the music again but it was short lived when a pillow hit the side of his head making him almost fall out of his chair. Scrambling to twist around in his seat, he came to face a _very_ irked Eita. “ _What?!”_

“ _It's 9pm, I've got a migraine coming on and I'm trying to get homework done. Can't you turn it down or off?”_ Satori frowned at him stubbornly but turned the volume down regardless

“ _Why do you even bother? Do you just_ want _it on to piss me off?”_ Satori would have usually laughed off a comment like that, sent a snappy remark right back and enjoyed watching him squirm. Semi's quick temper and loss of a filter when said temper spiked wasn't anything new but still feeling raw from the dream, the comment left him feeling a little small. Instead of saying anything, he reluctantly lowers the volume down on the speaker and goes back to resting his head against the desk. The vibrations are weaker and it's harder to let himself get lost in them but it still soothed him. He was just starting to feel calm when the vibrations stopped all together and he sat up quickly, snapping his head round to see Eita's hand drop from the speaker with an infuriated look.

“ _Are you serious? I know you you've got some crack tier imagination but come on,”_ He said before turning and dropping himself at his own desk, back to Satori and not turning back. Satori stared after him, annoyance turning to shock as the usually cool boy pointedly ignored him. Looking mournfully at his speaker, He was well within his to get mad but he didn't have it in him right now. _Eita's headache must be really bad for him to be that much of a dick._ He thought miserably as he sat staring into space for a few minutes. Needing a distraction and wanting to be anywhere but here, he snatched up the copy of Shonen Jump and headed back to Wakatoshi's room.

The door was unlocked when he got back, Reon still being out with some other friends from his other club activities much to Satori's relief. Wakatoshi didn't look up from the video he sat watching on his laptop at his desk, seemingly too engrossed in it. Satori let himself in quietly, standing awkwardly at the door shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He'd thought this had been a good idea before but now he wasn't so sure. Wakatoshi must have sensed him hanging just behind the door as he turned towards him with a curious look.

“ _Um. Hay. Sorry. C-can I just hang out here for a bit?”_ Satori said before Wakatoshi could ask anything else. He eyed him curiously and Satori wondered what he must look like, shoulders hunched and smile absent, clutching the copy of Shounen Jump to his chest like a lifeline.

“ _Sure. I'm not busy. Are you okay?”_ Satori relaxed a little, brisking past and sat on the bed exactly where he had been not twenty minutes earlier.

“ _Eita has a migraine and he's being a crank. Can we just read this for a little bit? Or we can watch whatever you where watching before?”_ He practically pleads. Wakatoshi nods in understanding and closes his laptop and Satori is once again struck with confusion as to why he heard whispers of Wakatoshi being dense. Sure he doesn't seem to pick up on other people's moods as much but they spend a lot of time together over all their shared classes and reading Jump. Most of all, he'd admitted to working out that Satori was deaf within just a few weeks of them knowing entirely on his own. Satori is more than grateful to have him as a friend.

“ _Thanks. I think I dropped my bookmark though, do you remember where we were?”_ He asks, pouting at finding the bookmark appearing to have slipped out. Wakatoshi settles himself next to him and waits for him to look up once he's confirmed it was definitely missing.

“ _I do not. I think the page had an advert for organic muscle relaxing bath salts though. They had them in lavender and sandalwood scents.”_ That made a smile tug at Satori's lips.

“ _That's pretty impressive you remember the adverts but I don't think that's going to help,”_ He hums. Wakatoshi flashes a small smile of his own at the teasing tone.

“ _I don't think so either but I might see if they sell the salts at the convenience store. Do you want to read something else?”_ Giving up on trying to see if any of the pages triggered his memory, which they did not, or if he spotted the add in question, which he didn't either, he sighed and closed the magazine, all traces of a smile gone as heat reached his cheeks. There had been something he'd wanted to ask to try for a while, the rumble of Wakatoshi's voice strong enough that Satori could feel it as their shoulders pressed together making him want to even more.

“ _Um. There is something. It's... kinda dumb. But can I ask you for a favor? Say no if it's to weird.”_ Wakatoshi appears interested, face neutral besides the slightest elevation of his brows.

“ _What is it?”_ Satori bit his lips, cursing the raising heat he could feel creeping across his cheeks.

“ _Ah. I don't know how to say this. Is your voice really deep? I can't hear it exactly but it's kinda like I can feel it? Like how me and your grandmother 'listen' to music.”_ The more he talks the more he realizes he hasn't asked and is actively trying to avoid it. Finding a pillow on the Reon's bed to stare at where he can still see Wakatoshi out of the corner of his eye, he sighs.

“ _Okay. I don't know to ask this but can I... hug you? While you talk? It just kinda feels like I can hear you and it feels nice. Like my speaker against something solid when I put my head against it. It's..... Ugh. Never mind, this is weird.”_ Deciding he can just go and find a quiet communal area to sit in, he starts to shuffle off the bed but halts when he sees Wakatoshi smiling and reluctantly stills.

“ _I don't mind. It's a little early but I guess you could consider it a present? I only realized earlier so I didn't get you anything.”_ Satori frowns.

“ _What do you mean?”_

“ _Is it not your birthday tomorrow? You said the crash happened on your birthday and you said the anniversary is tomorrow so I assumed. You said your birthday was during summer but never said when so I'm assuming you don't want to celebrate it given the circumstances, or am I missing something?”_ Satori can't help but smile a little, sliding back into place and shaking his head. _Dense my ass._

“ _Hah. Guess you caught me.”_ He holds his hands up in mock surrender, dropping them quickly and feeling his earlier embarrassment surface again as he shuffles uncomfortably.

“ _So how do you want to do this? Shall I stand up or is sitting okay?”_ Wakatoshi asks, Satori following the movements of his lips from his peripherals. Thinking about it, he shifts over until he's sat on the edge of the bed. Maybe he can swallow his embarrassment and shamelessly indulge in this little opportunity.

“ _Um, Maybe you can lay down and I cal put my head on your chest? If it feels weird you can just tell me.”_ Wakatoshi nods, adjusting himself until he's laying on his back and waits expectantly. Satori thinks he might just melt. He's cringing enough over it but this must be a lot further outside of Wakatoshi's comfort zone. Tentatively, he lays next to him, shuffling down the mattress until he can rest his head against Wakatoshi's firm chest. The warmth against his cheek radiating through his tshirt is more than the heat burning away at Satori's cheeks but it's comfortable, even better than he'd imagined. Bonus for having an excuse to hide his face from Wakatoshi completely.

“ _Okay. Tap me on the shoulder twice if you feel weird about it. Just... talk. About anything. I can't hear so you can tell me all your dirty little secrets if you want,”_ He rambles, closing his eyes to block out any distractions.

At first he just feels the gentle rise and fall of his chest, year the beat of his heart but Wakatoshi starts talking and he melts a little. The strong bass that must reside in his voice reverberates powerfully through his entire chest. He can feel each syllable against his cheek, the slight peek of sharper ones and the gentler thrum of longer characters. He speaks at an steady pace, the same as he does when Satori watches his lips form words just a little easier to understand than anyone else. Not even entirely aware of doing it, Satori lets his arm drape over Wakatoshi's waist, feeling the vibrations through his underarm and relaxing against him. When Wakatoshi apparently runs out of words, Satori sits up, completely unaware of when warmth started making a track down his cheek. Wakatoshi looks alarmed, a warm shade of pink dusting his tanned cheeks.

“ _Aah... sorry. Guess I.... T-thank you. That was... nice,”_ He stammers, looking away so he can wipe at his cheeks.

Almost making _both_ of them practically jump out of their seats, The door swings open and a disgusted looking Eita and an equally appalled looking Yamagata practically storm in the room, a more pleased looking Reon stepping in after and closing the door over considerably less violently. Semi looks positively _livid_ and Satori automatically hunches up.

“ _Are you fucking serious. After all that. And you say that? After all these months moping and you say_ that?” Yamagata waited for Semi to finish, nodding like something had caused him some kind of grave inconvenience.

“ _I was just passing by and overheard. Satori. Mate. Cruel. That's just, like, mean?”_ Behind them, Reon forced a smile, scratching at the back of his head.

“ _I tried to convince them to leave it alone but they wouldn't listen.”_ Satori looked between them, completely at a loss. Looking between the three of them, he looks to Wakatoshi to see how he's reacting to the sudden intrusion. Unfortunately, Wakatoshi has turned away from him, and maybe it's a trick of the light, but Satori is sure he can see the tips of his ears turning pink. If he's speaking, Satori can't tell. Turning back to the others, he remembers how to use his jaw.

“ _Wait. What? What are you talking about?”_ The three share a brief look of mutual confusion before Semi's shoulders drop, brows dropping low and jaw falling open forming the perfect picture of dismay.

“ _Wakatoshi just confessed to you. 'I think I have feelings for you but more than that of a friend but I don't know how to go about talking about them so for now this will have to do'? And you just say “that was nice”. And you-”_ Satori doesn't see the rest, head snapping towards Wakatoshi who was still facing away. If he was unsure about the pinking of his ears he could see, he knew he was definitely blushing now, the color reaching the back of his neck.

“ _W-wait... This wasn't confessing.... I don't know what he was..... Toshi... What....?”_ Realization slowly dawned on him as he turned back to the three stood at the door, Semi and Yamagata averting their eyes. And if he'd every felt like slapping Reon for anything, it was definitely that annoyingly _pleased_ at the current predicament as he opened the door and ushered the other two.

“ _Uh... Guess we'll just leave you two to talk it out. And Happy Birthday I guess?”_

Well. It made for an interesting get together story.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :)
> 
> If you didn't already, the first part of this story can be found [HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24310045) if you want a lil (or a lot, it's a big fic aha) more hearing impaired Tendou. I have 2 other fics planned for this story I'm looking forward to coming back to in the next few weeks/months <3


End file.
